LAS VEGAS– It is hard to imagine new Team USA coach Gregg Popovich, who has coached the San Antonio Spurs to five NBA titles and may be the most respected coach in the league, walking in anyone’s footsteps.
But Duke Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has won three Olympic championships and two World Championships, still cast a huge shadow over the men’s senior national team. Krzyzewski coached USA basketball to a 60-1 record in FIBA competition during the 11 years he served in that role.
The 69-year old Popovich, who finally got the job he always wanted, will be living with the pressure of defending this country’s brand during this Olympic cycle, which runs from the 2019 World Cup in China through the 2020 summer games in Tokyo.
Popovich has coached elite teams in the NBA All Star game in the past. But this is bigger. “This is above the NBA,’’ he said. “This is a loftier goal, and this is creating a new team, a new country, so to speak. These guys need to form a brotherhood the way the teams they compete against have because those guys have played together for a long time.
“We’ve got to try to mirror that sort of camaraderie and love and responsibility toward each other. They’re done a darn good job of that for 12 years and we need to keep it going.’’
Team USA will complete its two-day Olympic mini-camp today at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center. Some 26 of 35 NBA stars who were invited participated.
But before they can reach for the stars, the USA must qualify for the World Cup, which will serve as a doorway to the Olympics. Team USA, coached by Jeff Van Gundy and made up mostly of G-League players, is 5-1 after the first round of qualifying, with a surprising road loss to Mexico last month.
They will be paired with Panama and South American powers, Uruguay and Argentina in a home-and home during the second round of qualifying. The U.S. opens play with a game against Panama here Sept. 14 at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Arena.
“Jeff has taken on a huge responsibility, I mean, it’s incredible,” Popovich said. “When we sat down and tried to figure out who could do that he was the first choice. I called him up and I can’t remember if he thought about for a day or two, and he called back and said I’m in. Because I can think of nobody that can put together a team faster and get across the fundamentals and what needed to be done to put a team on the floor internationally than Jeff. He’s had four different teams during this qualification and now he’s trying to put together another team and it’ going to be even more difficult because we’re getting close to the season and were not exactly sure who were going to be able to put on that team for him but he’s taken it on and we’re lucky to have him.
Popovich spent his first day of his new job personally instructing his new team, including his newest player, 2016 Olympian DeMar DeRozan, one of the most talented guards in the NBA who averaged 27.3 points per game in 2017 and 23 last year, arrived in a blockbuster trade with Toronto for disgruntled star forward Kawhi Leonard.
“This was just something about him from the way he ran his team, the way he coached, his credibility,’’ DeRozan said. “Everything that stand out about Pop, you just have to love. So, to have this opportunity to play with a legendary coach at this point in my career, I think it’s one of those blessings that’s in disguise because this is a cool moment to be with a guy like that.’
Popovich could probably use the distraction. This has been a challenging time in his life as he deals with the loss of his wife Erin, who died at age 67 after a lengthy illness. Popovich stepped away from the Spurs final three games in their first-round playoff series against Golden State. Other than saying it has been “difficult,’’ Popovich has not spoken publicly about his wife.
On the court, the Spurs had always been a portrait of stability during the glory years with David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. But Popovich had to deal with a falling out between the franchise and Leonard. Leonard informed the Spurs in June that he wanted to be traded and would leave them without compensation in free agency in June 2019 if they didn’t accommodate his request. Last week, Popovich and Spurs president R.C. Buford reluctantly agreed. The same thing nearly happened last summer when the team fielded a similar request from center LaMarcus Aldridge, but the two reconciled.
Not surprisingly, Leonard chose not to accept an invitation to this mini-camp, thereby eliminating himself from consideration to play for Popovich on the U.S. national team.
Popovich, who attended the Air Force Academy and tried out for the ill-fated 1972 Olympic team, understands what it means to represent his country, and honor the legacy of Krzyzewski, who also has a military background, having graduated from West Point and has the same coaching philosophy.
“It is a huge responsibility, and I will be thinking about it probably on a daily basis to a certain degree because that is a natural thing,” Popovich told reporters. “It is a humbling thought to coach that team, but it doesn’t preclude me from doing what I am doing with the Spurs. I think Coach K (Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski) did a halfway decent job coaching Duke and winning over and over with USA basketball, so he led the way and he was able to do it, so hopefully I can follow in his footsteps.”
Picking this roster will not be easy but it appears NBA stars like the idea of playing for an NBA coach.
Popovich didn’t waste much time with formalities. He found out quickly how competitive the players can be. “We found people who wanted to knock heads, wanted to compete and wanted to get up and down,’’ he said.
